As the procreator of three fabulous kids, who have all inherited my flare for the dramatic, I am either hysterically laughing, or operating in various modes of crisis control. Alfred Hitchcock once said that "drama is life, with the dull bits cut out", to which I reply - 'Where are the dull bits'?

Sunday, December 28, 2008

Every year the Hub and I tell each other that we are going to 'take it easy' and 'scale back'. Then, every year we go nuts buying things for our kids that we think will make them scream with joy on Christmas morning.

I will admit that I think spoiling my kids is fun. There is nothing fun however, about having spoiled kids. So this year we committed. The kids were told at the beginning of November that for the Fishler Family Christmas 2008 they would receive 4 gifts - one each in the following categories:

1. Something you want2. Something you need3. Something to wear4. Something to read

The 'something you want' would come from Santa. All others were from me and the Hub. When asked: "What if Santa wants to give us more presents?" We replied: "We will write a letter to Santa telling him to give those gifts to other kids who don't have as much as we do".

We were thrilled as the kids not only embraced this plan, but carefully and methodically began to make decisions about what they wanted for Christmas.

When we saw Santa at the mall, the following conversation ensued:

Santa: What do you want for Christmas?Z: Jedi Math for LeapsterSanta: That sounds like fun! What else would you like?Z: Nothing else, all those presents are for other kids."

We are still flying high on the coat tails of our simplified Christmas. All three kids are continually busy playing with their few gifts and none of us feel that anything was missing.

Now that the holiday's are winding down I can honestly say that I feel that the Hub and I gave the kids more this year than any other because our celebration was sweeter, and more full of gratitude and joy.

Congratulations on sticking to your guns. My house looked like we were providing storage space for the mall about an hour after we opened our Christmas stuff. Fortunately for my bank account, the majority of our stuff was from both sets of grandparents and aunts and uncles. The clean up was a multi-day process. That alone makes me long for such an excellent plan as yours.